Obama lauds special-ops forces

WASHINGTON – President Obama praised a member of a U.S. special-operations team who was killed during a weekend rescue mission in Afghanistan.

Obama said on Sunday the mission was characteristic of U.S. troops’ “extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism.”

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Dr. Dilip Joseph of Colorado Springs was rescued late Saturday or early Sunday, local time, in eastern Afghanistan.

Joseph, a medical adviser for Colorado Springs-based Morning Star Development, was rescued after intelligence showed he was in imminent danger of injury or possible death, according to the U.S. military.

The U.S. did not immediately identify the special operator killed in the mission.

“He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free,” Obama said in a statement.

In a statement Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, “In this fallen hero, and all of our special operators, Americans see the highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service upheld.”